Birmingham mayor's race: Radio show callers quiz candidates

Voters calling in to a radio show today lobbed questions at Birmingham mayoral candidates William Bell and Patrick Cooper on topics ranging from negative campaigning and mass transit to capital projects and economic development.

Bell, who went on air first, said mass transit in Birmingham is unreliable because it is underfunded. The main culprit, he said, is Alabama’s antiquated Constitution that only allows highway dollars to be used for road and bridges and not mass transit as in other states.

The city of Birmingham can’t be relied up solely to make up the funding shortfall, Bell said. That responsibility to make mass transit efficient should also lie with the state and surrounding cities, he said. "It’s easy to put the pressure on the city of Birmingham," Bell said.

Cooper told the story of riding the bus with a young man from Bessemer who often ran the risk of losing his job in Hoover because of his constant tardiness. "We got on the bus and it wouldn’t start," Cooper said. "Mass transit here does not get people to and from their jobs. It’s not a complicated problem. It’s a question of funding."